Up to a million Canadians would struggle to cope with a 1 per cent rise in interest rates with 700,000 at risk from even a 0.25 per cent rise

Canadians’ confidence in the economy, personal finances, and real estate prices has declined.

The weekly Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 55.21 last week compared to 55.78 a week earlier and positive responses for three of the components were also lower with job security the only one to show a greater share of positives.

Western Canada was the region where confidence continues to lag the nationwide picture and confidence is also lower than the average for the past 12 months.

The only age group to increase confidence was 18-29 year olds and only those earning between $60,000 and $74,999 showed an increase.

Renters and homeowners were both less confident last week than the previous week.

Personal finances have been hit by interest rate hikes made in 2018 and economic sentiment has been influenced by a dovish tone from the Bank of Canada.

The BoC will be making its latest interest rate decision on Wednesday April 24 with Governor Stephen Poloz also providing an updated Monetary Policy Report.